By Angelique Gammon
In August 1993, Buckey and Carolyn Turk launched the business that would grow into MacResource Computers & Service on the dining room table of their Bryan home. Fast forward through three locations as the business grew and expanded, and today you’ll find MacResource new computer sales now exclusively located in the Memorial Student Center on the Texas A&M campus. Along the way, the Turks have garnered seven Bryan Rotary Newman 10 Business Awards (1997, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) and six Aggie 100 awards recognizing the fastest growing Aggie-owned business worldwide (2005 top 10 winner, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). New computer and product sales at the campus store seamlessly combine Apple tech with Aggie tradition in all the best ways. Carolyn Turk will now take your questions on growing an Aggie business.
Q. When did the campus store open? We became an authorized education reseller for Texas A&M University in 2007… and were able to locate that part of our business at our Texas Avenue location. We were able to get approval to lease a space in fall of 2009 at Northgate on Church Street until the MSC renovation was complete. A month after the MSC reopened in 2012, the MacResource Center opened in the lower level of the MSC.
Q. What are your Aggie connections? Buckey is Class of ‘83; I am Class of ‘84 … I graduated in ‘85 … I took that victory lap! Buckey and I love A&M. We met on campus; we chose not to leave the Aggie community when we married and finished school. We raised our three wonderful daughters here. They all went to Bryan schools and all have degrees from Texas A&M (Class of ‘09, ‘12 and ‘14). Our son-in-law (Class of ‘08) is an Aggie and our grandsons (ages 2 and 6) are bleeding maroon already!
Q. Why did you recently consolidate new Apple product sales at the MSC? Being an Apple Reseller [in the Bryan Texas Avenue store] AND a Campus Reseller at the MSC meant having two completely different stores with totally separate inventory and ordering from two different parts of Apple. While we had done this for years, in 2016 we were given the opportunity to offer the educational discounts to former students of Texas A&M as part of a pilot program. This meant the vast majority of customers could now get education pricing.
As we evaluated and analyzed our sales, we decided to shift all of our focus to the campus store. On June 15, we ceased selling NEW Apple products at the Texas Avenue store in Bryan.
Q. What’s happening at the Texas Avenue location? We are keeping the service/repair part of MacResource at the Texas Avenue location for our customers. We also will sell refurbished computers at that location, but all new Apple laptops and desktops must now be purchased at the MSC location.
Q. How has the campus store gained recognition from Apple? At an Apple Campus Reseller conference, Apple specifically had us talk about how we personalized the store to reflect Texas A&M and its history and traditions.
Q. Some of the campus store fixtures are literally part of Aggie history. How did you incorporate Aggie traditions there? The flooring is G. Rollie White Coliseum benches, still painted. The back wall is GRW benches with the paint removed to show the beautiful California Redwood. The entrance floor and the slat wall are made from oak bunk bed frames from the old Corps of Cadets dorms, and there are two turnstiles from Olson Field before they renovated.
We have an Aggie Woman’s Basketball jersey, signed by past members of the team from numerous years, which we continue to get signed, and there is a small piece of the floor from the 2011 National Championship game. There is also a cypress board, still with seat numbers from the old, old Kyle Field – where “get off the wood” comes from, and the computer display tables are handmade from the benches of G. Rollie White. We also have on display some Wedgwood plates from the early days of the MSC, along with a printed program of the original opening of the MSC and of the re-opening of the remodeled MSC.
Q. What is the best part of being an Aggie business owner on the Texas A&M campus? To have a business on campus and be immersed in Aggieland is incredible; it’s such an honor and we know it’s a rarity to be able to own a business on campus. We love having the opportunity to serve the students, the faculty and staff, and now the former students.
